Free Jimmy

Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars

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Users say
(30)

5 out of 5 stars

Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars

This adult-orientated, computer-generated animation isn’t an especially successful outing but still serves as an impressive antidote to the Disney-Pixar norm. It was written and directed in 2006 by Norway’s Christopher Nielsen, and Simon Pegg has since turned his hand to writing an English screenplay for it while a host of named actors – including Woody Harrelson, Jim Broadbent and Pegg – have added their vocal weight. The result is a gritty Scandinavia-set stoner comedy replete with a raft of unkempt cockney-esque characters, some hit-and-miss comic moments, dank locations, rampant copulation, much spliff-smoking and more effing and blinding than you’ll find on any football terrace. Yet part of the story here is undeniably touching, poignant, even childlike in its depiction of animal exploitation.

Jimmy is an endearing but malnourished Russian circus elephant with ripped earlobes and broken tusks. Not only is he kept in check with a cocktail of uppers and downers, but some Russian smuggler has sewn seven kilos of heroin into his arse. When the film’s main characters – a group of hired dope fiends – screws up his medication, Jimmy dashes off into the wild and the film switches to road-trip mode as he’s pursued by Lappish mafia, Scottish hunters and incompetent animal activists. The film sports an enjoyable ‘Shaft’-inspired soundtrack, some pretty deft animation and a most un-Disneyfied ending. It’s just not as funny as it could have been.

Hahaha,
I loved this movie when i saw it in norway, but i thinkg its hard to make it fly in english. A lot (most actually) of the jokes can't translated. It's a great exampel of how we norwegians view americans, north-norwegianses, lappish-peopel. and yeah well dope fiends. For instance on the driving liscense of the north-norwegians (i'm guessing that your scotts) it says HB (Hjemmebrennt), which means moonshine (homemade spirits) which is there favorit drink beverage of those peopel. And just the way they talk, (the junkies for instance; the words they use are very charactoristic for the junkies of oslo).
So all in all i can understand why it got so bad critcs abroad. But my freaking god is funny for us norwegians :P

Hahaha,
I loved this movie when i saw it in norway, but i thinkg its hard to make it fly in english. A lot (most actually) of the jokes can't translated. It's a great exampel of how we norwegians view americans, north-norwegianses, lappish-peopel. and yeah well dope fiends. For instance on the driving liscense of the north-norwegians (i'm guessing that your scotts) it says HB (Hjemmebrennt), which means moonshine (homemade spirits) which is there favorit drink beverage of those peopel. And just the way they talk, (the junkies for instance; the words they use are very charactoristic for the junkies of oslo).
So all in all i can understand why it got so bad critcs abroad. But my freaking god is funny for us norwegians :P

Great, great, GREAT movie. Stunning animation and a "fun" storyline. If you go in expecting a disney/pixar animation with their their standard recipie to make you laugh you will be either dispirited, or THRILLED as I was. This movie demands something of the viewer. It's not a animation where the creators make you feel smart every time you pick up on their "obscure" references to other films etc. This film will pull your heartstrings and make you laugh. Bring your friends, not your kids.

Great, great, GREAT movie. Stunning animation and a "fun" storyline. If you go in expecting a disney/pixar animation with their their standard recipie to make you laugh you will be either dispirited, or THRILLED as I was. This movie demands something of the viewer. It's not a animation where the creators make you feel smart every time you pick up on their "obscure" references to other films etc. This film will pull your heartstrings and make you laugh. Bring your friends, not your kids.

A refreshing dark animation comedy. Funny and sad as life can be, straight to the point. Realistically crude with a touch of humanity.
A story about drug abuse, friendship and greed with a different ending then the usual happy go lucky one...a good way of facing reality .

A refreshing dark animation comedy. Funny and sad as life can be, straight to the point. Realistically crude with a touch of humanity.
A story about drug abuse, friendship and greed with a different ending then the usual happy go lucky one...a good way of facing reality .

Some of the top UK actors (and the sublime Woody Harrelson and Kyle MacLachlan) provide excellent cameos, the animal rights activists had me giggling as I left the cinema and the music fits perfectly - at times sending up the adventure elements and then pulling on your heart strings in the next instant. A film that you don't see everyday, which refreshed my attitude to cinema.

Some of the top UK actors (and the sublime Woody Harrelson and Kyle MacLachlan) provide excellent cameos, the animal rights activists had me giggling as I left the cinema and the music fits perfectly - at times sending up the adventure elements and then pulling on your heart strings in the next instant. A film that you don't see everyday, which refreshed my attitude to cinema.

This is a slap in the face to all rosy happy endings. This is art in its extreme, a wake up call by talented animators spiting in the face of what is supposed to be 'norm' and shaking its audience to assess the consequences of drug abuse as well as questioning the incessant need of a covered-up representation of our world. This is very timely, the opiate clowds have given way to reality and risen a call back to nature. Free Jimmy is about freeing all those chained-up in a way of life we have unquestioned for too long.

This is a slap in the face to all rosy happy endings. This is art in its extreme, a wake up call by talented animators spiting in the face of what is supposed to be 'norm' and shaking its audience to assess the consequences of drug abuse as well as questioning the incessant need of a covered-up representation of our world. This is very timely, the opiate clowds have given way to reality and risen a call back to nature. Free Jimmy is about freeing all those chained-up in a way of life we have unquestioned for too long.